My 2014 in a nutshell

It's the new year again. To me, it sort of felt the same. Yesterday, today and tomorrow? How is it the final day of the year would lead to the first day of a new year in just seconds.

This is literally me. In my 20s  D: Waiting for the clock to strike 12am and finally we can watch the fireworks. Wasn't as fun as how it used to be few years back!

Anyway, every year I would do a quick recap on how my year went and briefly talked about it while thinking about the good times. Obviously, 2014 was not the best year yet, speaking in terms of the overall uneventful happenings that has been occurring all year. :(


For me personally, it wasn't really all bad but probably less interesting as 2013 since it was practically my life summary in Perth. You can have a look and compare it here :P

Sooo, let's get down to business!


Celebrated 2014 new year in Perth, I still remember watching the amazing fireworks at Crown Casino and we drank all the cheap wine we had at our rented home and got a little tipsy after that.I swear I could even speak Korean back then. lol xD Good times, good times.

I remember not long after that, I decided to change my airticket and return to my hometown earlier! It was kinda like the best feeling ever because I finally get to meet, eat, and go to places that I missed about my hometown! Besides, it is still the place where I grew up. :)

Chinese New Year was around the corner and I was very blessed to be home to spend time with my family and friends! It was nice to see faces that I haven't met in ages and there were no awkward silence in between every conversations. :D



And then it was time to return to Perth, and probably my last time returning in long long time, unless I decide to go visit one day. Traveled back with my parents and grandmother for the long awaited graduation. I am proud to say those 3 years of burning midnight oil, last minute rushing for deadlines and group meetings really did paid off. All of the above without spending much time in the university's library, I study better alone at home, in my room without any distractions. :) I can't lie, sometimes I do miss studying (no, what am I even saying) :P



The fact that I finally understand graduation is not the most glamorous thing in the world, judging from how heavy the regalia was and to have the ceremony outdoors on a hot summer evening at 40c. Plus no one specifically that knows how to take good photos for us, it was pretty manageable and the photos were limited but turned out quite well. :)



I can't thank enough for my parents, godparents, housemates and everyone else that cared for me to pay a visit when I was away. Thanks for making me feel like home. :D

After graduation, we made a pitstop to Melbourne to visit my cousins and had a better tour on the beautiful city as well! It was my last holiday before entering the working life so it had to be worth it. Fair enough, we spend a great time with my families and even challenged the ever so unpredictable weather of Melbourne.



And then in April, I left my hometown and flew to KL to start my first job at probably one of the most  coolest workplace that everyone has been hyping about :)


True enough, working with these bunch of awesome and energetic people had opened my eyes towards how much digital media and advertising has revolved around this world today.

And the point where I get to take epic group wefies like this? :D 

It was definitely a great experience :)

Throughout the year, I managed to meet up with my family and friends from back home,







Went back to my hometown for a week for my cousin's wedding,

Finally had the time to take our overdue Family Potrait, 

And also went for my first food/road trip down to Malacca with the naggy boyfriend :D

Anyway, for everything else in between? Nothing much really, the last quarter of the year was just busy house-moving which kinda made me realize the amount of responsibility I have and the fact that I am transitioning into an adult. A boring adult to be exact.

House moving was a pain because we had to make trips to move everything into our tiny car and the new place was practically empty. I am quite satisfied with the outcome however, I didn't manage to do a proper tour of the place? Maybe on another post :P But let's just say, the lighting at this place is wayy better for Instagram pictures and I kinda fell in love of staying and cozing up at home during the weekends :P

Also, been cooking a lot since I moved in and I have to say, I think I just found myself a new hobby! :)






4 months after my first job, I shifted to something slightly different but not too far, just more towards something I would like to do everyday but it's kinda like a job? Not sure if it makes sense, but lemme just summarize it in three simple words: Write. Photo. Social Media.





Ok, technically it's 4 words but you get what I mean. :) Here, I work closely with a creative and entertaining bunch of people that are dedicated in designing and writing. It kinda motivates me to work harder, heh. Y'know, get that creative juice pumping :D



All in all, I have to say, in these few short months, I am  glad that I had the opportunity to get to know a lot of great people, with colorful backgrounds that never fail to amaze me. Especially for someone who's hometown is 2-hours flight away. :)


Cheers to a new life in 2015, and I may or not be too late, but HAPPY NEW YEAR!





*Finger cross that 2015 will be another amazing year for me to document next January :)


x

It's that time of the year again..

Not sure if it has become a habit or I'm just being plain lazy, but I always manage to find my mojo to update my blog during the festive season. :P

Anyway, if you're reading and this not realizing that there's merely a few more days till the new year.. well, let's do a virtual high five because I too could not really accept that year 2014 is coming to an end so soon. 

I still remember the last time I spend Christmas was in Perth together with my family and housemates which was simply splendid! Mom did most of the cooking and we had a simple celebration but I remember we were all so happy back then :)

This year though, was different. Very different in fact. It's my first time spending Christmas without the company of my family and close friends back home and I actually felt a little lost. :( 

Nonetheless, I shall not be a buzz kill and enjoy the public holiday anyway because its rare to find myself at home chilling on a weekday :P

This Christmas, I decided to do a bit of cooking and fill the house a little bit of X'mas spirit! So there's my tiny looking tree I bought from Typo with pretty fairy lights sitting on the side table in my living room. I remember when I was little, Mom would take out the giant Christmas tree which was quite heavy from what I recall of.. and we would decorate the tree together with ornaments and lights that actually sings Christmas songs :D Ahh, the good times!

Me and my brothers were suckers back when we were little, believing that Santa Claus would climb through our window (because there's no chimney) and eat up the Chipsmore left for him and deliver our Christmas gifts in our giant X'mas socks. Yes, Mom got us good back then. She even played the Tooth Fairy which will be another story to tell next time. xD 

Anyway, my aunt from the UK brought a lot of Christmas treats for us to celebrate together with my family initially but we had a change in plans. :( 

One of my favourite was the Christmas Chocolate Calender. Basically, you need to open up each day from the first day of December and count the days till X'mas with every chocolate! Really cute but I didn't manage to open them up on time everyday though because I had it stuck in the fridge or else the chocolates will melt from our hot weather. D:

There were a lot of cute Christmas treats that we both possibly can't finish so I'm thinking of leaving them untouched till the fam-bam comes to visit in January! :) But I did took a few out to nibble this morning while exchanging gifts with the boyfriend!

Decided to skip Christmas roast because it is just not possible for the two of us to eat a whole turkey so I made roast pork chops with aglio oglio pasta on the side andddd not forgetting homemade pumpkin soup, recipe shared from my cousin Jeff! :)

This pretty much sums up my Christmas this year. :) Simple but pretty much covers all the elements in this season of giving. I was a little disappointed at first because I missed out celebrating with my family and friends but I'm still glad we get to spend Christmas for the first time in four years together. :)

 Once again, 

Merry Christmas everyone! <3

Dusty old blog

I feel ashamed for even updating because my last post was months.. months ago.

So here's a quick update and a number of excuses why I went mia for so long :P

1. My laptop died on me (finally)

So after 4-5 years for always being there with me, day and night, rain or shine, assignment or just watching dramas, my trusty old laptop had finally given hope on me. I remember the last time I was using my laptop was when I was catching up with series of Once Upon A Time through streaming on the internet. It was job hunting season and my laptop decided to rest in peace just when I was attempting to print copies of my resume for upcoming job interviews. Two words: Perfect Timing.

2. I moved to a new home

After seeking for a number of spaces to stay, we have finally decided on a nice place and moving in is being a pain when you can't fit everything in a little car and making trips back and forth can be a pain in the ass when you're working full time and to top it off, our old place is known and I mean it, known as one of the heaviest traffic jams around KL. Greaaat.

3. Lack of internet

Despite having to use the internet at work, I don't like doing personal stuff during office hours. And it took quite a while to get our internet installed because neither of us were available at home during the day on a weekday for installation so that explains the delay. Thank god we finally have internet now :D

4. New Job

I don't really see why is this an excuse but I'll include it anyway. So yea, it's not so new anymore as I'm entering my third month on this job now :P

5. Family

Just when I was about to settle down after moving in, my family paid a visit which I was pretty stoked about because its been a while since I've seen them and I would love to spend more time with them.

I guess this 5 reasons (excuses) of not updating is quite acceptable but I haven't really state my real excuse though, so here's

6. Lazy

Because watching crap tv and taking naps takes the least effort teehee!

Alright, enough excuses! Will do a proper update soon, after I start picking up my life and make it a little less boring :P

Mid-Autumn Festival 2014 x Homemade Snowskin Mooncakes

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 

I was always a fan of mooncakes but never like how expensive they are sold in shops. 

Went online and search for recipes for try making my own version of snowskin mooncakes. 

Apparently the steps are really simple and it was like playing with Playdough.

Since I was back home, I dragged Mom to get the ingredients and started making them!

Guide to make Snowskin Mooncakes for Dummies: 

You can get everything from the ingredients store and the one I went even had the pastes ready made so it saves us time and we can easily skip that part *Cheatinggg

1. The Ingredients

Glutinous Rice Flour (Gao Fen)

Icing Sugar

Shortening

Water

Food Colouring

Toothpicks

Mooncake Mould

and lots of patience!

2. The Mixture

Depending how many flavors you will be making and the size my measurements below were enough to make 10 small and 5 large mooncakes:


200g Glutinous rice flour
200g Icing sugar
100g Shortening

Mix all three and whisk them thoroughly.

Prepare approximately 230ml of water and if you like,

add food coloring to have pretty pastel mooncakes!

*Tip: Food coloring can be strong, to achieve the pastel-like, use a toothpick and dip the coloring into the water to avoid the strong texture!

3. The Dough:

 Pour in the water into the mixture while whisking until you achieve a lightweight dough. This is where the fun comes in!

As for the ready-made paste, just roll them into little balls depending on the size of how you like your mooncakes to be, the filling should be 2 times smaller than your dough. 

For the dough,

roll and flatten them, add the filling into the center of the dough and wrap them into a bigger ball.

Avoid creases around the ball as it will result in cracks.

4. Almost there!

Prepare a plate of glutinous rice flour and roll the dough around it till its fluffy. 

Get your mooncake mould ready and place the balls into it!

Fill the dough into the mould and make sure it's pressed hard to achieve the mooncake shape! 

5. Voila! 

Serve them chilled and take a photo with fake flowers for your accomplishment :P

I hope this lousy guide will set you on your quest to make yummy mooncakes as mine turned out.. fine. 

Except the part where I missed out the fillings on one (or a few) of the mooncakes and serve them to my ex-colleaguessss 

(Hahaha so maybe baking isnt my forte, im workin on it :P)

***

One thing I like about special occasions are Chinese celebrations. 

For some reason, there's always a thing to celebrate in the Chinese calender and dinner gatherings are always a must! :)

I had my dinner gathering earlier this year with a bunch of awesome ex-colleagues. 

Thumbs up for Carina for preparing everything and her Bf, Leon for letting us crash his place :)

#Carinaknowsbest

Flashback to a year ago and I had steamboat for dinner too with my homies back in Perth. 

It was great to see everyone again! :)

After dinner, we head down to lit up our lanterns!

There weren't any sticks provided on the lanterns so we had to go for an alternative by picking twigs/sticks to instead

which kinda explains why Eric has a big ass stick that could hold 3 lanterns. lol 

 Hope everyone had a good one!

Long ass post finally done,

Bai ! 

20 Facts about Me :)

Since everyone is randomly giving out facts bout themselves, 

I thought maybe I should join in the fun too!

(legit excuse to update my blog :P)

I actually did a Dayre version a few months back on '50 Shades of Me' but I thought adding another 20 on top of the last 50 wouldnt be problem right? 

Besides, all I need to do is talk about myself :B

So here goesss:

1. I am very indecisive.

I tend to over-think stuffs and seek for advice from people before actually deciding. I guess it's probably because I'm too caught up with the consequences. :\

2. I.love.desserts. 

Be it ice-creams, cakes, chocolates? Anything sweet will definitely make my day. *shakes head

3. I enjoy reading.

 If I find an interesting read, I would try my best to finish it regardless of doing anything else. Everything can wait! Let me get to the ending first! 

(This actually implies to watching series/dramas too)

4. I guess I'm stuck in between an introvert and extrovert. 

I can be shy at times but there are times I can be overly friendly too! I guess it depends on situations :\

5. I am very self-conscious.

 In terms of weight and height. :( But to be honest, I havent really made an effort on fixing it D:

6. I hate durians! 

Bleughhh. I used to eat them but grown to hate the taste/smell and not to mention the aftermath of eating durians. So yea, no durians for me thanks!

7. I'm a leftie! 

Oh, and I also have ridiculously neat handwriting which everyone keeps telling me. :P *showoff

8. I would go for Asian cuisine any day.

 Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese over bread and butter okay?

9. I love sunglasses! 

Love to try out different styles and I feel they make me cool like that. Hehee. 

Also it helps me cover my tiny squinty eyes! .__. 

10. My soft spot is probably my heart. :\

 Like I said I tend to over-think which is why there are times I regret on my past actions and feel guilty for the whole day. 

11. I would love to learn more languages.

 Currently trying to pick up on Cantonese by watching TVB dramas and listening to my friends talk! :D

12. I hate awkwardness.

I try my best to avoid it but sometimes its hard so I choose the quickest exit before things gets worst! :\

13. I have yet to figure out what kind of talent I possessed.

I suck at Maths, Art can be a bit boring for me and I dont think I can channel myself into Music. So yea, we shall seee. 

14. I grind my teeth when I sleep.

I grind soo hardd to a point where its so loud and it makes screeching sounds without even realizing how have I actually done it.  

15. I haven't been living with my family for almost 6 years. 

I missed it every time I come home or when they're here to visit :(

16. I LOVE TO TRAVEL! 

I have a bucket list of places I'd like to visit but I know it's an expensive hobby. :\ *save money firsttt

17. I tend to scrunch my forehead a lot when I'm carefully listening to people talk.

 It makes me look like I'm annoyed or something but actually I'm just trying to stay focus okay? :P

18. I do not enjoy exercising but I'm slowly trying to like it. :\ 

Maybe if I do it everyday, I might get used to it? Hmm. 

19. I have started a keen interest in organizing and designing interior homes.

 Love going to Ikea for no particular reason but to always have this "I know where I can put this in my future home"excuse at the back of my mind. 

20. I get easily attracted to all things colorful! 

From flowers to food and even clothes. When I find them nice, I'll take a photo of it and look back at them again another day. 

Phewww!

 20 facts and that's a wrap! I feel like they are all pretty elaborated and reading them again gives a better picture of how well I understand myself. 

No wonder everyone's doing it, it's kinda fun hey?

Alrighttt, enough vanity for today!

Shall update once I have a topic to blog about soon!

x